- Gah, what's up with the Celtics being completely unable to win on the road? Last night, it was rough watching the Celts play so sluggishly against a Cleveland team that was really on their game. The sad thing is that, despite playing poorly, Boston kept it close for most of the game. If they had just played a little bit smarter and more aggressively, they could have easily swooped in and stolen one from the Cavs. You have to question the offensive sets they're using. I think a lot of Celtics fans would love to see the current team have a more run n' gun offense - I mean, imagine the type of quick play used during the Pierce-Walker era utilized with the current squad. It seems strange that right now, Pierce often finds himself attempting the same difficult one-on-one style plays that he was forced to use during the last few years. With all the talent on the team now, there should be a more seamless, effective offense. I say get the younger guys in there and force the older guys to run. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen can still go and can still run the fastbreak - so make them sweat a little bit out there. The type of grinding style used by the Celts can be effective if someone like Lebron is having an off night, but if, like last night, he's on fire, he is able to break through the barriers and in turn, Boston can't put up enough offense to counter. And man, what a thunderous dunk by James last night in the fourth. As Kevin Harlan put it, King James truly had "no regard for human life" with an instant-classic tomahawk jam over KG's outstretched arm, after driving past seemingly the entire Celtics lineup.
In any case, The Celtics need to really do some tune-ups if they hope to be a championship contender, let alone get past the Cavaliers. They need to be consistent and not just turn it on and off at random, as some older teams are prone to do. It reminds me of the late-90's Houston Rockets, with Hakeem, Barkley, and Scottie Pippen. At times, the Rockets effortlessly won, when the veterans were firing on all cylinders. Other times, they looked like they couldn't compete with younger, hungrier teams. Here's hoping the Celtics can turn it up a notch and really do some damage.
TV STUFF:
- Last night's GOSSIP GIRL was another pretty intense hour of TV. With a combination of great characters, some storylines that are really ramping up, and solid scripting paired with an excellent cast, the show of late has really been rising above its teen soap roots. In fact, more and more, the show reminds me of Josh Schwartz's prior network hit, The OC. It has that uncanny ability to create plots that transcend the teen genre and really do feel epic and dramatic. The characters have a certain iconic quality - these aren't just lame-brained, stereotypical teens, but modern day heroes and villains. Last night, I was disappointed in a few of the plot developments, but overall, I was glued to the TV. What was lacking? Well, I thought the revelation of what was on Serena's blackmail tape was a little anticlimactic. Last week, the big cliffhanger was that she had killed someone. This week, we find out that all Serena actually did was hand a sketchy guy some drugs (his), which ultimately led to him partaking in a lethal overdose. Slightly scandalous? Sure. Murder? Hardly. My other complaint was just that, well, the whole arc of Dan ditching Serena and falling into the waiting arms of Sarah / Georgina seemed a little too contrived. I get what they were going for, but it eventually just seemed a little forced that by episode's end, everyone knew about Sarah's secret ID except Dan. Finally, enough already with the on-again, off-again romance between Dan and Serena's respective parents. It's still pretty weird, by the way, that son and dad are involved with a mother-daughter combo. Can you say awkward? But on the plus side was ... well, almost everything else in this ep. I loved the meeting of the minds between Chuck, Nate, and Blair. Their comparisons of past transgressions was priceless, especially when Chuck simply offered up "I'm Chuck Bass." Chuck is alternately hilarious and just plain evil - certainly one of the breakout characters on TV this season. I loved how even though he has been kind of helpful towards Serena, he still lets on that he loves all of the drama surrounding her. He even sneaks a peak at S changing in her lowest moment, once she's fallen off the wagon again. Talk about creepy! Anyways, this was just a really fun episode. I think it's to its credit that Gossip Girl has gone from guilty pleasure to must-watch TV.
My Grade: B+
- SMALLVILLE from Thursday was another decent episode that was hampered by being super-freakin' cheesy. Once again, we get Michael Rosenbaum with some really great stuff as Lex, and then everyone else making sure that the already clunky dialogue sounds pretty much as clunky as possible. A lot of this has to do with the pretty abusrd premise that, in nearly every episode of late, we see Lex inching ever closer to the secret of Veritas and the Traveller, each time narrowly missing the obvious fact that said Traveller is in fact Clark. I mean, in this episode we go so far as to have Clark run at super speed into the chamber where Lex is fighting, knock out Lex's attacker, then run away with Lex none the wiser. All that was missing was for Lex to conveniently get knocked unconcious. Overall, the Veritas storyline had some cool potential - the idea of a cult built around the arrival of Clark is pretty interesting, and brings up some cool themes of Clark as savior, Christ-like figure, etc. It's too bad then that, rather than explore this with almost any degree of sophistication, this episode presented the last member of Veritas as generic insane zealot #1, inexplicably going from worshipping Clark one minute to trying to kill him the next. We also had a pretty useless subplot in which Lex abducts an old clockmaker to try to decipher one of the puzzles left behind by Veritas. Again, had some potential, but never really went anywhere. Hmm, why is that seemingly a fitting description for all things Smallville?
My Grade: B-
- I liked a lot of what I saw from this week's episode of THE SIMPSONS. First and foremost, the humor really felt on-point this episode, with at least a few bits that were flat-out hilarious. My personal favorite line: Homer saying something to the effect of "Mom, you keep disappearing and then reappearing and it's just not funny anymore ... kind of like that show Scrubs." Bwahahaha ... Like I said, some really good bits in this one. We also got a pretty good story, as Homer's mom pays her son one last visit before passing away, and in doing so leaves a final task for her son to complete in her honor. The episode took a bit of a jarring turn from down-to-earth family-based humor in its first half, to out-there, James Bond (or Hank Scorpio, if you prefer)-style action in its second half. While it would have been nice for a little more consistency in tone, overall I thought the episode worked pretty well, and actually served as a pretty good send-off for Homer's mom, even if some of the emotion was kind of lost when things got wacky towards the end. Still, the overall quality of this ep was such that it made me wonder: might The Simpsons actually be on something of a roll? While this season has seen its ups and downs, I think the majority of the post-strike episodes have been pretty good, especially by later-era Simpsons standards. I hesitate to make too bold of a declaration, but anecdotally, I'm pleased to say that for the last few Mondays, I've eagerly asked friends and co-workers that time-honored Monday question: did you see The Simpsons?
My Grade: B+
- Meanwhile, KING OF THE HILL had a very funny episode this week. I tend to love the KOTH episodes where one of Hank's closeted eccentricities is brought to light, and this week, the oddity of the week was a previously unrevealed fact that Hank is terrified of bats. Seeing Hank try to overcome his fear, ignore it, play it down, and try to justify it by claiming his fear was normal ("everyone knows bats are disgusting and evil!") was pretty funny. And, the phobia nicely tied in to a Hank and Bobby bonding story, giving a well-worn KOTH theme a slightly different twist. With Hank afraid to enter his garage due to the bat problem, Bobby is forced to take the initiative in building a boat for the local regatta, and in doing so, Bobby comes to appreciate some of the Bob Villa-style building techniques that Hank had hoped to teach him. Good stuff. My only complain was that the Peggy subplot, in which she becomes really into books about various "-ologies", was a little weak in comparison. Overall though, another excellent ep of KOTH.
My Grade: A-
- Okay, finally, I'd like to talk a little bit more about SPEED RACER. Okay, so my previous prediction that the movie would be a big box-office hit was slightly off. Okay, maybe it was way off. But here's the thing - I can't stand all the snarky movie sites that love to equate box office underperformance with a lack of creative quality. I mean, come on, does anyone really need to be reminded of all the great films that at one time or another were box office bombs? Or of all the craptacular movies that raked in the big bucks? Now, when everyone fancies themselves to be an armchair box-office quarterback, more and more people actually review movies based on the almighty dollar, to which I say: are you kidding me? The last time I checked, you won't find The Goonies or Labyrnth or The Nightmare Before Christmas on the all-time box office champions list - some movies simply go underappreciated in their time. Some movies are hard-sells at the outset. But Speed Racer is the kind of movie that a certain type of cynical hipster or stodgy critic is simply prone to hate, but kids and fanboy film geeks of all ages will love. It's a tough sell of a movie. I think people overestimated Speed Racer as a built-in brand. Few people under middle age have any real attachment to the cartoon series, and if anything it's a show more known for its look and early anime influence than for any real attachment to its characters and story. Perhaps Speed Racer should have been sold less as a preestablished franchise film and more as something all-new, all-different. Because, really, that's what it is. To me, despite being based on an already existing property, SR is as experimental in its storytelling technique and visual aesthetic as The Matrix. I don't know if that was properly conveyed in the marketing. And even if it had been, it's not necessarilly an aesthetic that most people will "get," at least not right away. So now, every where I look, there seem to be three camps of people when it comes to Speed. There is a minority group who saw the movie and actively disliked it. Then there is a larger group who avoided the movie, but has jumped on the negative critical bandwagon and not even given the film a chance. Finally, there are those who saw the movie, loved it, and are now spreading the good word, especially in light of the fact that the film seems to be getting overlooked or prematurely dismissed. Well, consider me to be in the final category. SPEED RACER rocked, and I'll tell that to anyone who will listen!
- Alright, I'm out. Happy Tuesday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment